Conference 2010: A thriving success

Following the fire that wrecked the original venue, this year’s event rose phoenix-like to be hailed one of the best ever.

It's probably fair to say that this year's conference got off to the worst start imaginable. This isn’t, of course, a reflection of the efforts of the organising committee – quite the opposite in fact – more an acknowledgement that even after months of painstaking hard work and the most thorough preparation, some factors are simply out of your control.

As you probably already know, the original venue, the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, suffered from a fire three weeks to the day before the conference’s opening date of the 26th of May.  While the fact that a life was lost in the blaze puts any inconvenience into perspective, it’s still fair to say that the organising committee were left with something of a dilemma. Postponing the event was not considered, though, despite the size of the setback that faced them, which really impressed conference chair Nigel Grinstead, who witnessed the rebirth of the conference firsthand.

Pavilions of Harrogate was quickly identified as the closest alternative with facilities that were compatible with the arrangements that had already been made, and a shuttle bus service was arranged to ferry attendees in from their hastily rearranged accommodation.  According to delegates, the changeover was handled as seamlessly as possible, with many expressing their surprise at how little apparent disruption was caused. “It must have been an absolute nightmare for the organising committee,” said delegate Carol Tarren, facilities manager at North Yorkshire and York CMHS, “but the changes were communicated in a truly magnificent and professional manner, and I wish to record my thanks.”

The new format to the event ensured that it wasn’t just this information that imparted clearly either. This year a more informal style was adopted, with Grinstead interviewing each of the speakers on stage after their presentations, which was something of a departure from previous events, as was the fact that a wide range of people participated instead of a persistent few, which has sometimes been the case in the past. The fact is that, in these times, the issues that face the sector have such potential ramifications that they need to be discussed as thoroughly as possible, and many of the delegates were impressed at how this was achieved, and especially with the role played by Grinstead in this process.

Delegate Glen Newby, design and development manager for the University Hospital of North Tees NHS Foundation Trust, commented: “The conference hall was almost an informal gathering which gave a relaxed environment for people to listen to the various speakers, share their own experiences and add a bit more to add to the presentations. I particularly liked the way Nigel Grinstead adopted an almost chat show host style, which made people open up and got some interesting debates going.”

Grinstead also enjoyed the format, as he told us: “One of the things about HefmA is that the membership is very a strong and, when it needs to be, articulate group of professionals made up of directors and senior managers, but often these people have not been at the front line when it comes to decision making in their organisation. So it was good to see them at the top table at the event with access to the speakers where they were able to conduct a two-way dialogue, because they don’t often get this opportunity.”

The conference was opened by Bill McCarthy, chief executive for Yorkshire and Humber SHA. His opening address painted perfectly the challenges that face our profession in this ever changing economic climate, and crucially also inspired a great number of questions from the audience, which set the tone for the rest of the event.

Up next was Christopher Farrah from the Department of Health who stood in at the last minute when his colleague Peter Sellars was unable to attend. His presentation focused on the Premises Assurance Model, which has been developed with the service for the service. Farrah reinforced the importance of ensuring that the patient remains at the centre of all healthcare services, and delivering a clinical service that meets their needs while exceeding their expectations. This covered the whole spectrum, from diagnosis through to improved cures, and included a greater emphasis on preventative care.

Delegates then had the opportunity to listen Dr Steve Mann, a GP from Stourbridge whose presentation explored how an NHS led by the medical profession and commissioned by GPs may work, outlining the challenges and opportunities this could create. Discussion took place around integration and what this really meant for the service.

Bill Headley, director of facilities and programmes, gave an enlightening presentation on the work that has been undertaken within County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust under the banner of ‘Seizing the Future’. The scheme is aimed at not only providing efficient and effective services across a challenging and competitive health economy, but also at involving staff from the shop floor upwards to improve the quality of services provided to patients.

It was, however, the afternoon’s speaker that provided the focal point for Simon Tighe, facilities site manager at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby. “The highlight of the first day was the presentation by Professor Alan Maynard, whose direct approach to challenge our clinical colleagues on health reform and evidenced based policy was refreshing, witty and evidenced based,” he said.

Maynard, who is professor of health economics at the University of York, was certainly thought-provoking during his presentation ‘Will healthcare be rationed in the future?’ “Rationing is universal and unavoidable,” he said. “In healthcare it involves depriving patients of care from which they could benefit and which they wish to consume. The system is inefficient with much of healthcare having no evidence base and large variations in clinical practice which involve giving  patient with similar needs and similar characteristics very different types of care. “These deficiencies make the eradication on inefficiency essential in a period of economic stringency and can help ease the manifold difficulties in rationing access to care. All healthcare policies should, like medicine, be evidence based, but faith-based ‘redisorganisation’ of health systems is usual. Benchmarking clinical practice, managing outliers and ensuring continuous quality improvement is sadly absent and urgently needed in all healthcare systems, be they public or private.”

The second day of the conference commenced with a session from Dr Liz Jones, head of patient environment at the Department of Health. She gave delegates an overview of how the Public Available Specification (PAS) for Cleanliness has been developed. It’s fair to say that there were some challenging questions from the floor, which demonstrated the passion that exists within the service. Jones’ findings were followed by a presentation from Caroline Lecko, nutrition lead, at the National Patient Safety Agency on the ‘Continued development of food and nutrition programmes’, in which she focused on recent analysis of the reporting and learning system data which has been used to identify themes and trend of nutrition patient safety incidents. She then went on to discuss the programmes of work undertaken  in 2009 and 2010 and highlighted key patient safety issues related to dysphagia and hydration.

Caroline’s key message was that the future challenge to HefmA was to be able to demonstrate how the services provided by estates and facilities impact not only on patient experience but also on patient outcomes. The presentation concluded with a comparison of how services are delivered in developing countries compared to the UK.

A highlight of the conference was key note address from Baroness May Blood, MBE. The Baroness shared with delegates her hard gained experiences through her life and work, told against a background of extreme adversity as a passionate advocate of those living with the effects of poverty, particularly  in relation to housing unemployment and early years education. In 1996 the Baroness became the first woman in Northern Ireland to receive a life peerage and when you listen to her story it easy to understand why.

The conference business sessions concluded with a presentation from Past HefmA national chairman Andrew Jones, who kindly stood in at very short notice. In a challenging address, Jones spelt out the financial constraints and the implications of cuts facing NHS departments. He urged delegates to ensure their voices are heard at the highest level to make sure their services are not short changed as trusts look to achieve savings. Jones also reinforced the importance of looking at where additional income can be secured from the services we provide which can be  both internally and externally.

The success of the speakers was such that first time attendee Tarren was moved to comment afterwards: “There is a real need for all the healthcare, both hard and soft organisations, to support and share information and good practice, and while I don’t wish to detract from the importance of the other associations, I believe that HefmA is potentially the best platform for us all to get our views heard and even influence the ‘centre’ in the future needs of the healthcare environment and services we provide.” High praise indeed and evidence enough that though the event may have begun with a fire, it ended, thanks to the determined efforts of the organisers, speakers and everyone else involved, in a blaze of glory.